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Sulawesi Cardinal Shrimp

oatfish

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Joined
8 Aug 2007
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86
I bought 10 of these yesterday so thought I'd set up this topic as a what they like/don't like depending on how it goes! I have done a lot of reading about the water parameters that they seem to like/breed in but some advice is conflicting so I am just going to try and use my judgement/take advice from anyone in the know (LD?!) and put it in to practice.
After setting up a small 30l tank with rocks, a slate stack (siliconed to the back of the tank, this was a previous Cherey tank but they have been moved to my big planted tank now) and some algae/moss covered rocks from a current planted tank, I filled it with water with a high pH of 8, and low KH and GH (about 2 and 3 respectively) and set the temp to 27 deg C. After quizzing the shop on their water parameters (pH 8.4, Very high KH and GH about 18-20 or both and temp of 24 deg C) where the shrimp had been happy for over a week I got back, panicked that my water hardness was too low and would shock them and set about raising the GH and KH using out hard tap water. The stats were now pH 8.2, KH 6, GH 8 and temp 27 deg C. I acclimatised the shrimp over 7 hours and finally let them free with my fingers crossed. Today they are all alive (as far as I can tell) and happily grazing on the rocks in the tank. Fingers crossed and feel free to send any advice my way!
Thanks for reading :)
 
PH 7 or above, ideal 7.5+ (if you have sulawesi snails too) and temps of 27ºC. Feed them calcium rich foods and they will be fine, the snails don't tolorate any amonia or nitrite in the water so you must have a proper cycled tank to keep the snails and shrimp, if not they won't survive long. Also I would not recommend CO2 or liquid carbon. Good luck
 
Thanks LD the tank has seeded sand and algae covered rocks from my other tank and a sponge filter thats been running for several months from my cory tank plus 30% water from the cory tank (no detectable nitrite or ammonia in it) so fingers crossed that will be enough to keep the ammonia and nitrite down! I do not plan to inject CO2 or easycarbo or anything else etc. as I just have rocks and moss in there.
Have you had the snails too LD? The LFS had lots of dead Sulawesi snails/empty shells so will the snails work as an indicator prior to the nitrite and ammonia affecting the shrimp? Not that I plan to let that happen, I plan to have frequent small water changes through every few days rather than one larger wc each week, but I wondered what your experiences were?
 
I have never kept the snails, but they are extremelly fussy to water conditions, specially PH and temp. If you want to breed the shrimp try to keep temp at 27C and PH at around 7.5
 
Some (bit rubbish) pics of the Cardinals - for better pics see LDs brilliant cardinal pics :D
1cardinal.jpg


2cardinal.jpg
 
Nice shrimps :D
Its now said that 28 is the absolubt maximum tep for the shrimps so your temperature should be fine :)
If they are doing well i wouldnt fiddle too much with the water. good luck :eek:
 
Still fine! They are picking on the algae from the old rocks. Some pics of the snails:

sula2.jpg


sulasnail1.jpg
 
Oh forgot to mention, this shrimp are not particularly interested in a tank full of plants, Sulawesi prefer sand and plenty of rocks in the tank ;)
Nice photos, use the macro function (flower sign) of the camera and get a little closer, use high ISOs if you can or use the built in flash, taking the photos at a slight angle so you don't get the flash in the glass, if its too strong cover it with a piece of white printer paper, more layers to reduce the light ;)
 
Thanks LD - I doubt I'd have much luck growing plants in here even if I wanted too! Just gave them some Hikari Crab Cuisine crushed up and they searched the tank for bits of it and ate them fast. I have some Hikari Shrimp Cuisine on order - hopefully that will be fine for them, plus the odd bit of crushed flake food and a bit of courgette (just blanched some to test them on)
I used the macro on the camera but the front of the glass is curved making taking pics of them tricky, I'll have a play with the camera when I have more time. The shrimp are quite shy, retreating into gaps in the rock unless I sit still, them they come out and forage whilst having antennae battles.
 
Quick update, all still live...YAY! And some have shed. Added 4 more sulawsi snails so now I have 6, I am thinking a bigger tank might be in order... Carried out a 10% WC no worries, next stage - babies (fingers crossed)
 
oatfish said:
next stage - babies (fingers crossed)
These guys take a long time to adapt and to start breeding, just keep them alive for a few months and see how it goes ;) the shrimp will help too.
 
Hey Neil, all good, no deaths and out foraging everyday. Feeding happily on Hikari shrimp cuisine now. I saw one fanning but as I tried to take a closer look it retreated into the rocks, I think it might be too early for eggs but I have my fingers crossed. I added 4 cherry shrimp from my main tank and that has made them far less shy as they can see other shrimp out foraging. All snails fine too and growing! Just a matter of time I think and luck :lol:
 
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